ISIS Did Not Have a Good Year in 2023

ISIS formed in the early days of the Iraq War.
In the last decade, ISIS has become the US’s biggest enemy in the Middle East.

ISIS is responsible for the deaths of countless Americans.

The year 2023 didn’t treat the terrorists well.

(NewsReady.com) – When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, they eventually toppled Saddam Hussein, his military, and Al-Qaeda. During the early years of the war, another terrorist organization formed: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The group rose to prominence in Iraq and controlled as much as 40% of the country at one point and large swaths of Syria as well.

Four US presidents have made it their mission to eradicate the terrorist organization with the help of European and Middle Eastern allies. Their mission has been quite successful in recent years, including in 2023, which was particularly bad for the terrorists.

A Decline in Attacks

On December 7, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement notifying the public of the US military’s successes in their fight with ISIS in November. The Pentagon and its allies carried out 40 missions that resulted in the deaths of four ISIS operatives and 33 detainments.

The news came just weeks before BBC News reported there was a significant drop in the number of attacks carried out by the terrorist organization in 2023. According to the report, ISIS claimed a total of 838 attacks around the world in the first 11 months of 2023. That is a 53% drop from the 1,811 attacks in the same time period in 2022.

BBC Monitoring compiled the number of attacks based on how many the terrorist organization claimed. The report warns that they could be downplayed or exaggerated because the number comes directly from the organization.

What Happened?

The coalition of American forces and allies has had a significant impact on ISIS’ ability to operate. Former President Donald Trump put an emphasis on eradicating the terrorist organization while he was in office, ramping up attacks on them. The organization lost nearly all of its territory in those four years.

The terrorist organization has lost some of its most influential leaders in the last several years, too. In 2019, a US Special Forces coalition found ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. As American forces closed in, he detonated a suicide vest. His successor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, was killed in 2022. Then, the leader who took over for him, Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, was also killed. Abdul Lateef succeeded him, and he was killed in 2023. In other words, it’s not going well for the terrorists.